With eye on polls, MCD puts off de-notification of 140 roads

Unwilling to anger voters ahead of polls, the BJP-ruled MCD has postponed a proposal to de-notify 140 roads in the city.

According to the proposal, 140 roads have been notified as mixed land/commercial use, even though they are not being used as one. If de-notification is allowed, the roads will lose their commercial/ mixed land use status and commercial activities will be stopped, thereby, affecting hundreds of people. These stretches, in areas such as Lajpat Nagar-II, Kalkaji, GK, South Extension and Rohini, etc, are among the 2,183 ones notified in 2006.

An MCD official said aftera notification, a court ordered the MCD to carry out a second survey. In its report, the civic body found that 140 notified roads had little commercial activity going on and were largely residential in nature.

The proposal to de-notify the roads was brought at the standing committee meeting on Friday, but the members decided to refer it.

Standing committee chairman Yogender Chandolia said the decision to refer back was taken because the issue had to be discussed with the urban development ministry. “These were declared commercial and mixed land use only after following legal formalities and ensuring that they conform to MPD 2021, so we can’t de-notify them. Also, no provision to de-notify roads exists at present,” he said.